


Glass X4J_k 
BookJ£llL. 



SPEECH 



OF 



ME. PALFREY, OF MASSACHUSETTS 



ON THE 



POLL 3AL ASPECT OF THE SLAVE QUESTION. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 26th, 1348. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY J. & G. S. GIDEON. 

1848. 



^<0 






Jr•^f%y•'^■nr■'^ 
Weet. Eee. BitiK, St 



SPEECH 

OF MR. PALFREY, OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

ON THE 

POLITICAL ASPECT OF THE SLAA E (iUESTJON 

(In Committee of the Whole on the state of tiie Union, Jamiary 2Gth, 184b.) 



Mr. Chairmaiv: 

On the 22d day of December— a doy consecrated to all time bv the first pr-^-s- 
?ure of the footsteps of the martyr.s of Liberty on the .shore of this. Western 
world, desecrated to all time by the consumination, at the other end of this 
Ca])itol, of the measures taken by the champions of Slavery for the admission 
of a foreign nation into this Union, for the purpose of strengthenino- and per- 
petuating that institution— the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Clingman^ 
addressed this committee on what, in the pamphlet iniblication of his reinark-^ 
he has culled th- Pohtical Aspect of the Slave Question. He treated the sub- 
ject with great courtesy, fairness, moderation, and dignity. I am not sure that 
his speech will not permanently connect vet another' cla^s of associations with 
that tamous date. 1 see in it evidence that the time has passed away Avhen it 
wns thought neces.sary to banish this great question irom the deliberations of 
1hi> Hall._ I joyfully accept the omen. I see other indications ol' the .same 
welcome improvement in the state of feeling around us. It is but a little vvhi'e 
since I read two articles in the "Southern i^eview" on this subject, of which 
the temper and tone were as commendable as the argument seemed to me fal^ 
acinus, f imderstand that there has been a plan for a newspaper in this Dis- 
trict to be devoted to the interests of Southern slavery. And, on the other 
hand, a plan has not only been projected, but executed', for the establishment 
of a paper with the opposite design, (The National Lra. ) It is conducted with 
distinguished abdity, and, I am told, enjoys a wide circulation. There were 
sonu- threats of violence, 1 believe, at firs"t, but they came to nothin-. The 
inends of hberty, it seems, hav- at last a fair held. 'Give them that, ^d th-v 
ask no favor. 

f was not so fortunate, INIr. Chairman, as to hear the whole of the aro-ument 
o the gentleman from North Carolina, some engagements havino- called^'me out 
of the Hall while he was addressing the committee. I read the'^-eport of it the 
next morning in the Intelligencer, and came to my seat expectino- to make 
some comments upon it, if an opportunity should occm-. But immeliia+elv on 
the reading of the journal the death of one of our associates was announced, 
and the House adjourned over to the next week. For the few davs, within the 
la.st two weeks, that the House has again been in conuuittee on "(he message, 
other subjects— Internal Im],rovement.s the Treasury Report, tlu' iMexic^an 
Ay^^rr' ".-'^ '^"^ attention, and the inteiest created by the gentl.Mnan from 
North Carolina, in the subject which h(^ treated, had passed away. On the 
last day but two of the session of the committee it was revived bv the remarks 
of my inend from New Hampshire, (Mr. Tixk,) and (he ^^milvman from 
Maryland, Mr. McLant,.) I attempted y, sterd.y to get the Hour, but unsuc- 
cessfully, till just before the committee ros(-. 

The genthunan from Maryland, if 1 understood him, expressed an opinion 
tnat the subject of slavery was unsuitable to be introduced into the discussions 
of this House. [Mr. McLanl: assented.] [ am of a diffcnMit mind. 1 think 
tne gentleman from North Carolina is right upon thai i>oint. iJut, if !,<> there 
any (iue.stion about it, I beg it may be remembered that it is not the enemies of 
slavery who have introduced the discussicm into the ])roceediiK--s ,>C this Thirti- 
eth Congress of the [Jnited States. At the b.^ginning of (his Congress, in the 



very first set speech, if I mistake not, it was Introduced by a member from a 
.laveholding State, representing, as I suppose, a slavcholding constituency. 
In this Con-ress it is the South that has thrown down the gauntlet. 

I said that, in my opinion, tlie gentleman from North Carolina was right m 
introducing the subject; and I am struck with the propriety of the title which 
he gives to his published remarks-The Political Aspec of the Slave Question. 
Sir, it is the great political question of the country, and has been from the be- 
crinnincr of thts century, though not hitherto so prominent as now. It is the 
Question which undeilies all other great questions, and determines their so- 

" Sil'' tlio crentleman tells me nothing when he says (page 8) that the free in- 
terest of ^his country is secure, because "the free States are in the ascen- 
dancy in all the branches of the Government; and their majority of more than 
fifty votes on this floor, and in the electoral colleges, is greater than hey ever 
hacl in Ibrmer times." It is true, notwithstanding some smgular facts, them- 
selves .^rowino- out of the tact of the extension of slavery and ot the slave 
power, under the forms of the Constitution, in away ^evei" contemplated by 
the framers of that instrument. It is true, notwithstanding that OhjO^^"^^ ^^f 
York toc^other have only 4 representatives la the other branch ot tht, i-egisia- 
ture 55"^in this, and 59'in thi electoral colleges, while fiaeen slave blates, all 
except Vh-ginia) with an aggregate free population only -b-tjs large as t^^^^ 
popu ation of New York and Ohio together have 30 votes in t^/^^^hei House 
78 in this, and lOS in the election of President and V ice President. What the 
gL iVman says is true, notwithstanding this singular distributioii of poht ca 
lover which the introduction of new slave States has brought about But 
Tnot all the truth. The gentleman did not intend to disguise an>-thmg, but 
oi" futher facts, bearing%n this point, did not suit th^J-H-e f bs^^^^^^^^^^ 
ment The free population of the United States, according o the ^enMS o 
mo amounted to not far from fifteen millions; the slaveholders, a a hbeia 
estimaS were not more than three hundred thousand; fourteen millions and 
a haTtainst three hundred thousand, a numerical preponderance amoiig the 
free pcimlation, in the proportion of nearly fifty to one, m favor ot the free 
^eres * In tke Presidential election of 1844 there were about three miUion 
of vote s; between one hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand of these 
voters were holders of slaves: that is, the majority ot non-slaveholding vote is 
over slaveholding, was somewhere between two millions seven hundred thou- 
sand and three millions— a disproportion of twenty or thirty to one. 

But is the gentleman to be told by me of the power which can be exert.ed by 
the concentrated encro-ies of an active oligarchy, spread over a countr> , intent 
on aTncde no icv and bound together by a common intelligence and a common 
^^^:^^w^i;h its ever-wa^had ambition, it will t^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^1 
and inert masses-how it can intimidate and overawe the ^^^^^1^' ^^S ^^^^^^ 
conciliate the easy, and bribe the mercenary, among tho.^e A\ho can '"""^nc^ 
he inlblic voice?' 'Fifteen years a„- there was a great ex^iteiW in tb^^^^^^^^ 
try, and a powerful party was organized, against the institution ot F ee Ma^«'^^ 
Th; charge wa.s (I do not enter into the merits o the ^«"^° ^r^) •] j^^^ ^ 
institution had been the cause of the death ot a citizen, and t^-t it x^^^J"'^^^ 
sponsible power, spread like net-work over the 1^"*^' ^^^^/^'^I^^^'^'^,.^ Hut 
and symbds which gave it an omnipotent unity and sccresy ^ ^ct «^i. liut 
how many more lives of citizens have been sacrificed o ^^J^^:^^2uJ lul 
slaveholdVrs, and how much moiy perfect is their "'^tual unde.>taml n a,^_ 
their combination of power and of activity, than f "y^J^'^tem of oatl a m^ .. 
bols could create! Slavery exists but in half of the States of ^l^'^;^^^ 
by the possession of the bulk ofJtheFoperty in those States, and b> a xiriua 
"^.cprobal.iliry'i«,llmtiborearenc;^^o^.y as 300,000 slaveholders, and .h.l the esti- 
jTialcd proporiion of 50 to ] is quite wiilun the truth. 



monopoly of the means of education, it appropriates to itself the internal o-o- 
vernment of those States, and their inlluence beyond their borders. Sni'all 
as are its comparative numbers, it takes its place in the national councils as 
the representative of the agjjregate weitjht of tliose States. With this weio-ht 
and with the skill derived from making j)olitics its study and practice, it comes 
as a seller into the inarket of the national patronage — \Vith the retaiuino- fees 
of fortunes for the basely sordid, and promotion for the basely as])irino-. ''what 
wonder that, with such advantages, it should iiiul willing and capable'tools be- 
yond its own domain.? What wonder that it shoidd tind" means to perplex the 
simple, and beguile and soothe the good, as well as to enlist and use the sel- 
fish.? What wonder that it shovdd be able to play off parties ao-ainst each 
other, and take to itself etlectually the balance of power, and the lion's share 
of the prizes at stake.? 

But why reason about it.? Look at the facts. I have a statement before me, 
which, it noL punctiliously exact, is not far fro)n the truth; and it runs as 
iollows: 

„ . , F''oiii non-.slave!ioIdii)i,- States. From .slaveholdin"- Siate.s 

1 residents'^ - - - - 4 teniib - - 12 tenns. 

Judges of the Supreme Court - 11 - - 17 

Attorney Generals - - .5 . - 14 

Speakers of the House - - H . - 21 

Presidents of the Senate, /;ro /m. - 16 - - 61 

Foreign Ministers - - - 54 . - SO 

While the proportion of cabinet minister.s and of high naval and military officers 
has been something like the same. 

Such is the disproportion in the distribution of offices of emolument and hon- 
or, to correspond to a ]oroportion of \oters, on the favored side, of one to twen- 
ty or thirty of the whole vote. No matter for the emolument— I s])eak for the 
great mass of the people of the free States, the honest people, who are not 
struggling tor the " .spoils^'— we have other avenues to gain— the ways of in- 
uu^try and of frugality, which we j^-efer. No matter for the honor. We can 
hnd that m the paths of science and letters, in the labors of philanthro])v and 
of public enterpiise, and in the offices of a blameless and useful jn-ivate life. 
But this accumulation of public offic^s in one class of hands represents the 
accumulation of Political Powlr, and alfords the means of i^erpetuatino- and 
extending it. i i o 

See how it is exercised. Let me first mention the unutterably heinous law 
—I can characterize it by no milder epithet— of Feb. 12th, 1793, putting the 
hbertyof every freeman in this nation at the mercy of everv paltry town or 
county magistrate whom the kidnapper may delude or bribe' to do 'his dirty 
work. It my neighbor sues me for twenty 'dollars, the Constitution of my coun- 
try gives me the security of a jury of our peers to i)ass betwi'cn us. "Not so 
with my liberty, which I value at more than twenty dollars, [.et a strano-er 
come among us of the free States, and claim one of tmr number as his runaway 
slave, and let him satisfy, a>uj haw, some trading justice thai his claim is good", 
and that justice's warrant is valid for him against all the woild. The law makes 
no distinction between white and black men, though, if it did, it would make 
no diiierence in the atrocity of the principle. Let the inan-stealer get that 
warrant, and with it he may bring ine or any representative from a free State 
on thi.s floor to the auction block close by this CajMtol, to make our next remove 
in chains to Natchez or New Orleans. ' He may take my wife from mv side, 
or my infant from its cradle, antl, if 1 resist, he is armed "with the whole j)ower 
of the country to strike me down. The odious law, by its letter, threatens and 
insults the (;overnor of Massachusetts or New York as much as the darkrst me- 

» The Presidency of IB-il-T, i.s reckoned in both columns, once for i'rcs;dt;nt liarrison'a clcc- 
-lon, and once for Prcsuknl Tyler's term of oflice. 



6 



nial they employ. Do o;entlemen say the law would never be so executed? Be 
it so. What would prevent it? The law of force, or the fear of force. The 
standing outrage and indignity, standing on the defiled pages of the statute book, 
are still the same. 

What next? Look at vour Cherokee troubles, and your Seminole War. One 
of those misfortunes of the Cherokees, which led to your driving them oft" at the 
cost of the national honor in the violation of sixteen treaties, was, that they 
were charged with harboring fugitive slaves. The same was the great sin of 
the Seminoles in Florida, expiated in a stubborn conflict of seven years' dura 
tion, at the price of 1 know not how many lives, and of at least twenty millions 
of dollars, (and nobody knows how much more,) of which we of the North had 
to pay our share, sooner than Southern slaves should get away from their owners. 
But time is wasting, and I must pass entirely over many things, and lightly 
over many others. As to this Political Aspect of the Slave Question, how has 
it dealt with our right of petition, and our freedom of speech and of the press 

tlic two last belonging to the inheritance of our Anglo-Saxon manhood, the 

former commonly recognised in the poorest vassal that crouches before a des- 
pot's throne. For several years, the petitions of our constituents for the re- 
dress of Avhat they felt to be oU'ensive grievances were contemptuously thrown 
back bv a standing regulation of this House; and now the most that we have 
o-ained is, that they may go into the hands of the Committee on the District, 
which committee, it is just as well understood as if it were formally set down 
and ordained in your rules and orders, is to do its office by simply burying them 
out of sight, and taking care that they be no more heard of forever. 

Liberty of speech and liberty of the press, what are they worth in nearly 
half of the States of this Union, if one would exercise them in relation to the 
great moral, social, and jjolitical question of the time? On that subject, within 
those borders, who does not know that a man is not to speak or print his mind, 
except at peril of life and limb? Nor does personal liberty, in certain circum- 
stances, fare better. By the Constitution of Massachusetts, established in 
1780, people of color are citizens of that commonwealth, as much as whites. 
And by the Federal Constitution, which went into operation in 1789, all '^ citi- 
zens of each State are entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the 
several States." By the constitution of Massachusetts, I say, freedom is uni- 
versal within her limits, and citizenship has nothing to do with color. There 
was never an act of Emancipation in that commonwealth. Emancii)ation took 
place by force of the organic law. Three years after its adoption, a colored 
man prosecuted a white for assault and battery. The fact was admitted, but 
justified on the ground that the black was a slave, and that the assault was the 
lawful chastisement of the master. The court held, that under the clause of 
the bill of rights declaring that <' all men are born free and equal, and have cer- 
tain natural, essential, and inalienable rights, among which maybe reckoned 
the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties,"" (language almost 
copied from that written by a Virginia pen in the Declaration of Independence,) 
no such relations as those of master and slave could subsist in Massachusetts. 
The master was convicted and fined, and slavery took its last leave of her ju- 
risdiction. 

The colored citizen of Massachusetts goes on his lawful occasions to aSouth- 
orn State, with just as good a constitutional right to tread its soil in security 
and at will, as the heir of its own longest and proudest lineage. But not only 
is he forbidden by a pseudo-legislation of the [ilace to land therein freedom, he 
is not permitted even to remain in freedom on board the ship that has conveyed 
him. He is forced on shore to a prison; and when he is discharged and dej^arts, 
it is on the payment of a ransom, calleil the expense of his detention. If he 
comes a second time, he is scourged, if a thirti, he is sold into jicrpetual 
slavery So decrees the so-called law. Massachusetts was uneasy to liave her 



unoffending citizens treated thus. She remonstrated, but to no purpose, ex- 
cept to draw down fresh insult. She could not, nor did she desire, to escape 
the responsibility of adoj)tino- all means in her power for their protection. She 
sent one of her most respected citizens, a man of admirable wisdom, discretion, 
dio-nitv, and purity of character, simply to try the question of the validity of 
those provisions which South Carolina persisted in affirming to be law, though 
that one of her own eminent sons, who had had cognizance of it on the su})reme 
tribunal of the nation, had said, "■on the unconstitutionality of the law, it is not 
too much to say, that it will not bear argument."* 

A new Political Aspect of the Slave Question was now disclosed. The slave 
(juestion had closed the doors of the Federal courts, to which it belonged to ex- 
tend the security the Federal Constitution had assured. The Massachusetts 
lawver could not reach the bench before which he wovdd have ])leaded for the 
liberty and rights of Massachusetts freemen. Nor only so. The slav(; ques- 
tion had yet further aspects for himself. He was expelled, and sent home 
with indignity, if it were possible for indignity to reach such a man. And laws, 
so called", w-ere forthwith enacted, making it higldy penal henceforward to 
seek legal redress in that region, under such circumstances, for the extremest 
outrages oifered to a New England freeman. 

Mr". Chairman, Ave have no present remedy. We cannot i-uisc a regiment, 
nor fit out a ship, for the maintenance of the rights of those to whom the State 
owes protection, as much as they owe allegiance to the State. We are disarm- 
ed by those compromises of the Constitution, Avhich Massachusetts respects. I 
shudder while I refer to such expedients; but in other times they would have 
been resorted to. It may be we shall see heieafter that these dismal transac- 
tion." are not merely to be deplored. Tt is such extravagances that attract at- 
tention, arouse indolence, and excite to action. It is a method of Providence, 
to provide for the ultimate overthrow of gieat evils, by the practical develop- 
ment of their enormity. The excess of an abuse conducts it to its iate. I said 
to Mr. Hoar, when Iwelcomed him back, that I could not wholl}- regret the an- 
-noyances he had endured, for they seemed to belong to that blackost chirkness 
that just precedes the day. I believe it was so; and that while the pen of His- 
tory was 'recording that shameful chapter, the pen of Destiny was writing the 
certain and not distant downfal of the oppressive and insolent institution. 

Then came, for the strengthening and perpetuation of slavery, the disastrous 
measure of the annexation of Texas", with its long train of />oliiicn/ nspccfs of the 
slave (juesiion, long enough already, and still stretching far away into the un- 
known and threatening future. The first fruit of that proceed in i;,- was the re- 
peal of the taritf act of 1842; a measure which took the bread from the mouths 
of thousands of the Avorking men of the free States, ;uul a mcaMu-c carried by 
two votes cast at the other end of this budding, by men who Im.l no more con- 
stitutional right to come in and act upon our affairs, than any two who might 
have been brought over from England, or France, or Algiers. The next blos- 
soming of the tree Avas in the pending Avar Avith Mexico. Genllemen please 
themselves with making distinctions between the om/xin/i ami the rm/st of that 
war. But nobody, I take it, doubts that, if Texas had not been anne:^ed, Avar 
would not have taken place. Mr. Cai.houn, Avhose sagacity all th(> newspapers 
extol, thought he coidd set fire to a barrel of gunjiowder, and extinguish it 
when half consumed. He has lived to rue the failure of tlu» hopeful experi- 
ment. We have spent an hundred millions of dollars, und_ ar<> going on spend- 
ing. No matter for the money, if it had only been Inn-ied in the deep blue sea. 
"deeper than did ever plummet sound," instead of being used 1o purcliase so 
miich disLTace and mischief. 15ut it has been nuide to carry Avidowliood and 

* OpiniDii of .Ttidjrf .Tolinson, August 7, 1823. in ilie cas^c of lifmy Klki.-on ex. 1m-..ikhs 
Dcliosseline, sheriff of Charleston distiicl. 



8 

orphanage into thousands of the homes of a sister Republic, the homes of men 
and women wlio never injured us. It has been made to carry widowhood and 
orphanage into thousands of our own American homes — to write a chapter in our 
history for the execration and loathing of the civilized and Christian world, and 
the bitter shame of our own wiser posterity. 

Of a system which leads to such political results — for, following the gentleman 
from North Carolina, 1 have not spoken of it as a question of justice or humanity 
— that gentleman is the elaborate apologist, and tiie gentleman from Maryland 
thinks that it ought to be regarded with respect and deference. The gentleman 
from North Carolina said, (pages 5, 6,) that it is miscalled a "peculiar institu- 
tion," for that it is "natural among men,"' and ]>revails widely throughout the 
earth. I think he has been reading Rousseau, and learned from his fantastic 
dreams that the savage state is the natural and blissful state of man. Rather 
he has been reading Hobbes, and has adopted from that vigorous champion of 
arbitrary power the doctrine that might makes right, and in his school has con- 
tracted a 1 jve for slavery and force, and all that condition of humanity a\ hich in 
his nervous but not dainty language the philosopher describes as "without arts, 
without letters, without manners, without society, and the life of man solitary, 
disturbed, nasty, brutish, and short." I am not so forgetful of the state of 
things in the ancient republics, and in the cultivated communities of the south- 
ern section of this country, as to athrm that slavery cannot co-exibt with a high 
civilization. But they have no natural or proper affinity. It is only by force 
of earlier events that they are brought into contact. Slavery is natural toman, 
just as it is natural to him to drape himself with fig leaves and bear-skins. As 
his rude nature is developed, he invents better arts, and tends to a better cul- 
ture. I know not but it was natural to man, as the Scottish philosopher of the 
last century maintained, to go on all-fours, and cHmb trees to regale on acorns. 
But in the progress of ages he has learned to do better. Liberty, justice, hu- 
manity, are natural to man, just as it is natural to him to learn to calculate 
eclipses, and build marble palaces, and make books of science and poetry, and 
surround himself with the charms and graces of a refined society. And where 
is slavery the "practice of mankind ?" Among the highly cultivated commu- 
nities of the race ? In England ? In France ? Or in Mozambique and Guinea ? 
Sweden, Holland, and Denmark, have at length closed the procession of the 
civilized nations that have abandoned it. Out of these United States, I know 
not that it exists in any part of Christendom, except Brazil and the Spanish 
colonies. And in those colonies its form is much milder than with us. Of its 
condition in half-civilized Brazil I cannot speak. 

Again: The gentleman urged, to this point, the natural inferiority of the negro 
race, (page 7.) He has no doubt examined, and knows how to expose, the 
seeming paradox of those ingenious men who have held that the balance of 
power was shifted, and the sceptre of the world passed from the colored to the 
white race, some twenty-four centuries ago, at the capture of Babylon by the 
Persians; and I presume he decides that question rightly. 

[Mr. Clingman interrupted, and was understood to say he had referred to 
the Egyptians, and relied on the formation of the Egyptian skull.] 

The gentleman speaks of the Egyptians. Undoubtedly he has attended to 
the curious hint in Herodutus, bearing on that question. The gentleman quotes 
Appian, a writer not commonly in the hands of professed scholars. He is a 
reader of Polyhius, and has weighed his merits, and those of the other great 
masters in that department oi' composition in such exact critical scales as to leel 
justified in placing him at the head of the list in respect to jxjlitical sagacity, 
(page 6.) lie cainiot have overlooked that singular passage in so common an 
author as Herodotus, in which the old chronicler has been thought to say, that 
the ancient Egyptians, the remote source perhaps of (Jreek civilization, were 
woolly-headed negroes. I will not defend that interpretation of his words. But 



9 

it iis no invention of any of your hiirh-llyino; Abolitioni^tis of the present day,; it has 
been received by grave and plodding English und German doctors, who read, and 
pondered, and smoked, and annotated, long before such a lasus natur(e as an 
American abolitionist was ever heard of. The gentleman has, of course, de- 
termined the complexion of the great captain of antiquity, the Carthaginian 
Hannibal, and knows how far it resembled that of the Lybians and Nul)ians 
whom he led to twenty years' triumphs over the sharp-beaked eagles of Rome. 
He sees how to dispose of the phenomenon of the French mulatto, Alexandre 
Dumas, that miracle of prolific genius. He can show^ that no stress is to be laid 
on such a case as that of the American Frederick Douglas, now of Rochester, 
New York, ten years ago a wretched slave, picking up scraps of leaves of the 
Bible in the gutters of Baltimore to teach himself to read, then working three 
years on the wharves at New Bedford, without a day's schooling, I presume, in 
his life; yet now speaking and writing the English language Avith a force and an 
eloquence which, I hesitate not to say, would do no discredit to any gentleman 
on this iioor. But 1 do not discuss the question whether the negro inferiority 
is to be traced to a congenital incapacity, or to the depression and low culture 
of many generations. It is a great problem. I have not time for it. It is too 
intricate and vast. Nor, determined either way, would it have any material 
connection with the main question I have in hand, or directly bear on any 
measures now in the contemplation of this committee. I have been but step- 
ping aside a little way in the gentleman's track. 

Again: He appealed to the "failure of the emancipation of the negroes in 
the West Indies," (page S. ) The gentleman gets his views of this from the 
English merchants, who try the question of success or failure by the amount 
of their importations of coffee and sugar from the islands. [Mr. Clingman was 
understood to say that he had his information from those who had personally 
visited the islands.] The statements of visiters, Mr. Chairman, are conflict- 
ing. I have statements different from what have reached the gentleman, on 
which I am disposed to rely. I am very anxious to see the recent parliamen- 
tary reports, and have sent for them for the purpose of being aided to clear up 
the contradictions. I have before me a table showing the amount of sugar ex- 
ported from the British West India islands in five successive years. It is as 
follows : 

I'l 1841 - . - - 125,295 hoi^slieads, - - . . J 2 225 tierces. 

Ill 1842 - - . - 135,910 do. .... 15^985 do. 

Ill 1843 - - . . 141,100 do. . - - . 13^640 do. 

I" 1844 - - . . 138,150 do. .... 16^395 jo. 

In 1845 - - - . 157,200 do. - . . . 20,075 do. 

Showing, on the whole, a constant and very gratifying increase of the exporta- 
tion. But, su])posing it were otherwise, the gentleman, like myself, I believe, 
is a friend to the prated ivf si/stem; and if so, he knows the worth of the home 
market. Mr. Jefferson pointed it out long ago, and showed how, on account of 
the saving of the cost of transportation, and for divers other good and wei'^-hty 
reasons, it was better than the foreign. And if part of the sugar and coffee 
which used to be sent abroad is now consumed within the islands, which is the 
case to a large extent, in consequence of the negroes being now in a condition 
to indulge in such luxuries, the decrease in the amount exported is little to the 
purpose. And, supposing even that less of these com.modities were raised, the 
negroes being disposed to turn more of their industry to othcu- productions — to 
raising yams, bananas, plantains, pine apples, any "thing — for the market, or 
for their families, what then? The better the fanner can suit himself with his 
farming, the more rent will he be willing to ])ay; and with the rise of rents, of 
course comes the increase of the value of land, and of the wealth of the 
proprietors. Js it not so? And is Ihdt failure, even in an economical ]K)int of 
view? 



10 



But, Mr. Chairman, i am ashamed to areue the question on such a basis. 
The failure of West India emancipation! Do the orentl(>man and I speak the 
same lan-ua-e? Do I understand the gentleman, and does he understand him- 
self? Frulure, when 800,000 human chattels were quietly changed in a day to 
Ir^en and women, endowed with the possession and care of their own bodies 
Tnd souls, introduced to the relations of humanity, entitled to call their chil- 
dren their own, empowered to have husband and wife, brother and sister, m 
some intellio-ible sense! This ^failure! And mark the decisive practical con- 
trTdfclion .rven, and forever sealed, to all that had been said, and -.^ ere 
more loudly than in these islands, ot the danger of such a proceeding. Four 
hundred thousand negroes in Jamaica to forty thousand whites, the whites would 
have been but a mouthful for their vindictive maw if vinchctive passions had 
had swav But not one act of violence sullied that magn.f.cen triumph of 
Christianity and right; and, from that day to this, a peace and go";lj'"lf ^^ave 
prevailed, which would do honor to any civilized community. If that is a laU- 
me will some one tell me what would have been triumphant and glorious suc- 
cess? I should be -lad to be informed. The idea has not yet dawned upon me. 
Once more- Th°e gentleman took ground against the pretty common opimon 
that, as he expresses it, "the continuance of slavery is injurious to us as a na- 
tioh - (pa-e9 ) He will excuse me for saying, that rarely has it been my 
chance to fall in with so palpable a vo7i sequihir as that which h-s ,n he chasm 
between hrpremises and his conclusion. "It may be remembered," he said, 
"that the" iew derived from the decennial census is well calculated to deceive 
More than one hundred thousand foreigners annually arrive in the United 
States, who settle down almost entirely in the free States " Do they And 
why' ' Because in the free States the occupation of the laborer does not place 
him in a de<^raded caste, and because -in the free States there are common 
Sols for him to send his children to, in which they can be trained under the 
same advantages as the richest, and from which they can start in an equal com- 
;e^[ion with ?he sons of the richest for all the prizes o society- ,f <, ^^^ - 
this the case with foreigners. "Those who emigrate Irom the old Northern 
States almost all ^o to the new free States: while, on the other hand a very large 
p oportloa of th^emi^ration of the old Sordhern States goes into he tree State 
re Northwest." ^Indeed!' And what is it that sets the P-d.g.ous current 
of cmioration so determinately in that direction, winning even t^e >on> o the 
sunny South from the homes of their childhood and the graves of then; fathers, 
and all the associations of kindred and of memory, to seek the hardships of an 
mi riei ctdUion and a Northern sky> Just the intense desire or that equahty 
and those social advantages which the presence of slavery absoluteU exclude. 
"Thi , I have observed "myself," the gentleman continued, "is eminently true 
of the North Carolina emigrants; and 1 may add, too, that, hut for tins nn^^^a- 
Vo. population woul.l increase in that State as fast as it would in any countr>', 
her'eC'^ng an abundant supply of the necessaries o hie among the entire pop- 
ulation " Ah' Mr. Chairman, "much virtue is in" hvt, as well as in '^if. 
"sTfor this emigration," North Carolina would rapidly increase. Because of 
this e^ gration, i^t does not so increase. And what causes this e^ •- 
The crentleman told us what does not cause it. It is no want ot a ''s"PP)> «» 
Sie nCtr: of life," vulgarly so called. 01^ them, he said t- Xj hey ha^^ 
abundance-plenty to eat, drink, and wear. But ot what are equall> neces 
sanes of life" to right-minded peopU—equahty of sor.al j)osit,on, and oppor- 
unities for personal improvement and advancement-the non-slavehoUl.ng 
North Carolinians have n .t enough, and therefore they go elsewhere in search 
ofth'em i:^J'7u; down the poH^tion of the State as w.Jl a^^^^^^^^^ 
consequence, of which, in a well-organized community, the industnou> classes 
are always the support and strength. Thi.s remark on the tendency o em.gra- 
^on o tV free States, said the gentleman, is "..u.r.//// true ot tlie North 



• 11 

Carolina emiorants." I should expect it, irom the well-known sound sense and 
robustly independent character of the good old North State. The free, '■'ten- 
der, and open" spirit.which (ieorg-e Fox found among the honest planters of 
Albemarle, has not died out there, and it is not sutished with inferiority and 
-tagnatiou. Let them get rid of slavery, and they can live at home without 
cither. 

And when wc have got at the cause which keeps down the comparative pop- 
ulation, ])rosperity, and consequence of North Carolina, we can an.swer the 
same question in other applications. We can tell why the growth of beautiful 
Kentucky keeps no better pace with her sister Ohio across the river, not so 
large and scarcely so fertile, yet the latter, though starting later, now nearly 
tripling the free population of the former. We can tell why \'irginia, in the 
first half century of the Federal Government, increased her po])ulation from 
abovit three-quarters of a million to about a million and a quarter, while New 
York, on a much smaller territory, enlarged her numbers from about 310,000 
to near!}- two millions and a half, and her estimated property had become ncar- 
Iv three'^ times a? great as that of the State the most favored by nature of any 
in this Union. We can tell Avhy Maryland, most eligibly situated, has 27 free 
inhabitants to the square mile, and bleak and barren Massachusetts 9S. We 
can explain how it came about that INIichigan, in ten years before 1810, in- 
creased her free population 514 per cent.; and Arkansas, erected into a State 
about the same time, only 'ZOO jxt cent. Washington saw the difference be- 
tween Pennsylvania and Virginia in his day, and his infallible discernment des- 
cried the cause to be in the laws for abolishing slavery: ''laws," said he, for 
once too hopefully, "which there is nothing more certain than that Maryland 
and Virginia must have, and that at a period not remote." And his august 
Avisdom pointed out the proper method of relief, as well as the crying need. 
"There is one only proper and effectual mode," he wrote to Robert Morris, 
"by which it can be accomplished, and that is, by legislative authority; and 
this, as far as iny suffrage will go, (mark it, (iEorgk W^\shin(JTon\s suffrage 
for abolition,) shall never be wanting." 

An institution so salutary and beneficial to the body politic, the gentlenran 
from North Carolina would have extended into Territories and States as yet un- 
touched by its influences, and he offered his own scheme for that purpose, (page 
5.1 I'pon that I will not now detain the committee with any of mj' remarks. 
1 may have an opportunity to do so hereafter, when the question of extending 
>lavery into new territory may come up. But as to tvvo or three tilings wliicli 
iie said about it, I must briefly throw in my raredt at the present time. 

The gentleman said: "The sujiposition that the States would exclude from all 
the Territories of the United States an institution which prevailed so generally 
among them, seems improbable in itself, and those who maintain it may well 
be required to furnish the evidence. There is not, sir, in the wliole Constitu- 
tion any one clause, which, either directly or indirectly, favors the idea that 
slaverv was to be limited to the States where it then existed, or to be excluded 
from any jiart of the territory of the United States," (page 0.) 1 think, Mr. 
Chairman, that the Constitution, had it lieen faithfully executed, agr(>eably to 
the fQiw^c f)f the convention which framed and of the |)eople who adopted it, 
contains enough safeguards against such a wrong, and that, construed in its true 
meaning and spirit, it could never have been used to extend the benefits (if they 
were such) of the original compromises — conii)romises bad enough, any way, for 
the free State? — to new parties, not embraced in the original partnei>hi]). 'I'lie 
gentleman, it seems, thinks otherwise, and, unfortunately, he has recent con- 
structions in bis favor. The past has come and gone. We may have oj)])i)rtunity 
to look at th*' (pie^tion furthcir, when further usurpations, as 1 esteem tiunn, 
.shall be attempted upon the liberties which that instrumf-nt was exjxH'ted to secure 
to Lhe freemen vvlio ratit'cd it. Enlightened by the dismal experience we have 



12 



had, I own I could no. wish that the Cor^^uon ^ ^l;;^^^ZS^ 
and explicit prohilnt.ons, though I ^^^^ nauenct af ha\x^^ been in action to 
at all availed against such unscrupulous ^"""^^^^^^ '^'^ ;''^' '..^ ^^^ further pre- 
nuUify it in all cases in which ^^^y^^;^^^'^^^ . l^.tn musl read'the 
cautions were taken, is no mattei "' " P^^'^^;^,^/^^^.;^, ,„,, of the State Con- 
debates of the convention which framed that ln^lrumtIll, ai 

fenUon, that ratified it, vith very '^'f^^tlleZZ^l^ ortho sk e 
fnllllSiV^u'^blt^^^Lpalatahl. Anc.^^^ 

s^:^!-^:^holS;rt;^^^^ - -— -- 

dance it will yield fruit ''for the healing "j ^1^;^ "^^\°';;; ^^^^ ,1,,.^,, the other 
The gentleman said, ^f ^er'^ one half d^ ^^^^^^^ 

half have none," (page 5;) and from ^*^^\';?^;^;"' .__^|,^t would be to give 
the institutions of new territory, an ^^IJ f ^/ 'f f,^f g -, I do not airee 
half of it up to slavery, and le liberty e n the ^^^ • ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ 
to that fractional statement. II facts ^^^?^h ha^e pre en ^^^^ ^^^ 

of the committee are sustained, then it "1^,"^:!^ 7,^^^;^^ ,,| \, proprietors, 

fiftieth part of the people of this ^^^'^^^l^:^^^^^ ^<^^ ^^'^ 
in an institution which is essentially and eono^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^j^^ 

interests of the other ^^riy-^ ^^^^^^^^^y^l,,, aomain, for the 

?u:;:::s:^;ts:Zg:^p:^-^n^t^ 

^^ t^'|;ntleman said again in connectiojvwUh ^^^ ;:^;:i^:Z:ol 
by transferring part of the s aves ^J^ ^he old ^^ate o the ne , ..^ 
nit increase their numbers,'' (page 8.) ^^"^' ,\XLs '' bu^ 
economy has not misled me, this is by ^^^^^';^^'''^^^^^^^ narrow bound's, 

it is obvious that by removin|apopulatio lom ^^^uhr considerations might 
you provide for an increase oi its "umbcr '^^^ M^/^^Y'^^^f^^^t' ,,,ult ,vould fol- 
be added in the present instance, to f "^^^^*''' ^ ;"^,^ f ' \fj: be said, Very 
low. I anticipate the reply that may be '-^^^e « 'u • U rna)^^^^^^ ^^^ , ^^^ J^ 
.veil; increase. theamomUo human it ^^^;^^^^^,^^^,,, ,f Uie other 
happiness. But, in the tirst place, uik i happiness, un- 

position. And, in the second, I will not ^^^^ ^ .^.^^Jj;^ J'lUe. Vir- 

Ser all circumstances of socia condition is '' '^f ^\.^Yl ^/'^^.f compatriot, 
ginians, at least, are not apt to torget f^,;X"„^,tn be just, then it'should 
^'Give me liberty, or give me death. It tnai ^^^>"'" -J' 

equally be said, Give me liberty, or -^f J^ "^Ymtciuat of the colored 
*MuJh of the -terest lateW man^es^ for Jh^^ru^uc^ ^^.^^ ^^^^^_ 

race, the gentleman ^'^'^''^ X'ilhlTZ no Lstitutions of recent origin, but 
ties," (page 9 ) He is ^^^^^^^ ^at they a c "^ • ^^^^^ ^ ,„j,,. ,,f ^ 

coeval with the existence of our ^^^^f^^^^U States, in Februarv, 1700, 

memorial addressed to the Congress of *' ^^'"f ^i_f^^^^^^^^^^^ „f Slavery." Tke 
by the -Pennsylvania Society ^^^ F"'"^ "^.^^'^.teCZ^^^^ Franklin i^ sur- 
name of no less conslderable^a person tb|>> h^e -^^^ ^'^IL knew some tluugs 
.cribed to that memorial as P'-e-^l^^"/ ^^^;J ^ ^Jj^k particularly that 
as well as the men of this more conhdent gen 1- .^^^^^ 1 ^ ^^^ ^^ 

he had some comprehension ol ^^aU^*;' f ^^^;'^^^^^ .t -ques- 

and I set his authority against that ol a 1\"^* '' ^Y'^^^ilabl^^^ duty undet the 

tionable, whether the abolition movement is reconcilable ) 



13 

Constitution."' Among the illustrious names on the roll of that society is found 
that of La Fayette, whom the gentleman from North Carolina (juoted as com- 
plimenting "the good sense of the American people, whlcli enabled them 
wisely to "settle alf domestic difterences" — the same La Fayette who said to 
Clarkson, as that philanthropist reports in a letter written not long before his 
deatii, '4 would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I 
could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery." 

The ircutleman from North Carolina presented a classification of •dbolilionists 
of the present dav. I am not sati>!"ed with it, either for precision or complete- 
ness, and will bespeak his ])atience while I propose a dilferent. 

Tliere are, in the first place, the a/joIHionists', strictly and commonly so 
called. Their specific distinction, as a body, is, that they urge a dissolution of 
the Federal Constitution and of the Union. With the gentleman on the other 
side who expressed his sentiments not long ago, they hold to the "sacred right 
of revolution." He Cidled it "the most sacred of all rights." They attach to 
it a similar sanctity, though they v/ould not prosecute the object in the way 
which I suppose he would think legitimate. They are, generally at least, non- 
resistants, and most of them even "retrain from voting, from scruples againsi; 
giving even that suupoi-t to a Government which they regard as implicated in 
so much wrong. With a late president of the college of South Carolina, they 
have "calculated the value of the Union," and, as they do the sum, the Union 
turns out to cost too much. Among them are persons of the greatest purity ot 
life, and the most unselfish philanthropy. There are individuals of eminent 
abilities, of the highest culture, and of social connections the most esteemed. 
There are those uho bear the great historical names of the North— names 
which one cannot read the story ^of the heroic periods of New England v.- itliout 
continual] V meeting. 

I do not adopt their views in respect to disunion. I believe that there resides 
in the Constitution a sutiicient recuperative power, which, though smothered 
now, only requires proper etlbrt to be brought into action. 1 reject utterly the doc- 
trine which makes the distinguishing badge of that body. It was from them 
that those expressions proceeded v.hlch the gentleman quol^d to the committee 
as having been "collated by Mr. Nathan Appleton," (page 14.) I regret that the 
gentleman should have thus brought forward his friend here.^ I cannot antici- 
pate any occasion that will lead me to introduce in this place, for animadversion^ 
the name of a private citizen. But the remarks of the gentleman make some 
notice from me proper, perhaps necessary. I will not proceed to it withoiit 
premising, that he shall not say anything of his friencrs worth in private hie 
that I will not cordially echo and confirm, perhaps with not less knowledge 
than his own. I cannot mistake the gentleman's allusion, when he said that, 
"because he [Mr. Appleton] expressed sentiments of regard for the Constitu- 
tion and the Union, and a determination to ainde by the laws as made, a torrent 
of obloquy was directed against him, so as to oblige him to publisJi a pamphlet 
in his defence." The gentleman read some of ''the extracts which heJ^Mr. 
Api)leton] thought proper to make, to show the opinions of his assailants;" and 
then, in allusion to part of what he had quoted, he went on to say, "this last 
sentiment he shows has been adopted as a motto by many who do not protess 
to belong to the sect of abolitionists." The gentleman mu^t ])ardon me. 1 
think his friend has not shown this. [ think that he has not asserted it. It 
the jrentleman understands that his friend has insinuated it, in relation to the 
writer of the pamphlet that drew out his own, on the gentleman be the respon- 
sibility of that interpretation. 1 entertain no such (juestion here. I5ut it the 
gentleman can further show that that insinuation is in fact made, tlien be the 
responsibilitv of such an insinuation upon its author. Certainly it would be a 
groundless one. The writer of the pamphh't which occasioned the i)id)lication 
by the gentleman's friend, recorded distinctly his dissent from the doctrine ol 



14 

disunion. It was no obiter dictum, but explicitly set down, and somewhat fully 
reasoned out. In answer to the inquiry, what course of action the usurpations of 
slavery demanded from the free States,'that writer yaid, "t hey should not meditate 
a severance of the union of the States. Disunion would be as evil a thing as 
it is painted by any of those who, by dwelling exclusively on its evils, put their 
consciences to sleep in respect to that slavery, which, as long as it exists, will 
threaten, more than all other causes together, to bring it about." He then 
proceeded to some considerations in confirmation of this sentiment, and con- 
cluded his remark uj)on tlie topic by saying, "constitutional proceedings, then, 
alone are to be thought of for the abatement of this monstrous nuisance. A 
disunion of the States, on all other accounts a calamity, does not change its 
character, when viewed in relation to this end."* 

Another portion of those interested in the movement against slavery is em- 
braced in the Liberty party, so called. It has a regular party organization, 
contemplating action under the Constitution, holding its conventions, and sup- 
porting its own candidates for otiice, as much as either of the two parties that 
mainly divide the country. In some States its numbers are large. In my own 
State its vote has nearly reached ten thousand. In New York, in 1844, it 
came up, I believe, to fifteen thousand. 

Among the opponents of slavery are next to be reckoned great numbers in 
the two principal parties in the free States. A very large number — I sujipose 
the dominant portion — of the Democracy of New York has lately taken strong 
ground upon the subject; and the same, though to a less extent, has been the 
current of Democratic opinion in New Hampshire; while the AVhigs of New 
Hampshire have made themselves very distinctly heard, and a combination, on 
the ground of hostility to slavery, has plucked the government of that State out 
of the hands of a dynasty which had seemed destined to be perpetual. In 
Massachusetts we have foiuteen counties. Two of them are small, their pop- 
ulation not equalling that of several of our single towns. The Whigs of a ma- 
jority, I believe, of the rest, at the county conventions last autumn, declared 
the opposition of Massachusetts to any candidate for the Presidency or Vice 
Presidency who was not known to be opposed to the further extension of 
slavery; while no county, as far as I know, assumed the opposite ground. 
But the people of that sober Commonwealth have widely taken the alarm, and 
they do not limit their views to the m<ere confinement of slavery within its 
present limits. Let me read, Mr. Chairman, a Resolve of the Legislature of 
the pattern Whig State of Massachusetts, passed, as appears by the certified 
copy which I hold in my hand, on the ^Tth day of February last, five days be- 
fore the dissolution of the last Congress. It reads thus: 

" Resolved, unanimously. That the legislature of Massachusetts views the ex- 
istence of human slavery within the limits of the United States as a great ca- 
lamity, an immense moral and political evil, which ought to be abolished as 
soon as that end can be properly and constitutionally attained, ami that its ex- 
tension should be uniformly and earnestly opj)osed by all gi)od and patriotic 
men throughout the Union." 

Sir, that is plain language. That is otl-hand, downright, point-blank utter- 
ance, if I know what such utterance is. Without being any friend to the doc- 
trine of instructions, I take that for the sentiment and counsel of my venerated 
mother, and may Cod prosper me as I will act accordingly! 1 stand on just 
that platform. I consult that .solemn record of the sense of my native State, 
and I find that my sentiments come exactly up to it. With that record ol the 
will of whig Massachusetts in my hand, I shall not go to Mr. A, B, or C, in 
State street, or Wall street, to learn whether I am a Whig, when measureil by 
some second-rate standard in their minds. As little shall I wait to have my 



•Papers on the Slave Power, pp. 77-79. 



15 

Whio- character passed upon by some insf.ecting editor here in Wasiiini^ton. [ 
had not been many days in tliis ])hice before one of that profession animadvert- 
ed on me and two'of my friends, as ''putrid excrescences" upon the Whig par- 
ty. In perhaps not quite so direct language, he passed the same sentence on. 
three other Whig members, and recommended, 1 think, tliat we shoidd be 
'' lopped off." The calculation at the lime was, that the party in this House, 
had tive majority, all told. It was a brilliant idea, that "lopping oil"," which 
would have left a minus quantity behind. Sir, it would not have been good 
partisan economy — it would not have secured a good working majority. It would 
have been financiering too much like that of the honest sohlier in the English 

song — 

" How happy's the soWier tliat lives on las pay, 
And spends half a crown upon sixpence a day!" 

The happy thought was ground out by what was said — of coiu-se, erroneously 

to be the organ of a certain interest in this House. To judge from the nmsic 

it discoursed, it was an instrument of indifferent pretension, fitted with a sorry 
set of what Milton calls 

"Scrannel pipes of wretched slravr." 

From the lumber gairet, which was its too evident destiny, it has lately, if re- 
port says true, been ransomed, to be furnished with another stop, and attuned 
to a different symphony. 1 think it was time. 

[Before the close of tlie last paragraph, the Chairman's hammer fell, on the 
expiration of the hour. INlr. P. would have gone on substantially as follows:] 

There is another large number of persons, who are apt to be left wholly out of 
the accoimt, in a consideration of this question — friends of freedom, who, disin- 
clined to attach themselves to a third party, and merely block the wheels — ut- 
terly dissatisfied with the Democratic party, because of its alliance with slavery, 
and not siifiiciently satisfied with the Whigs, because they think their i)ractice 
is not up to their professions — stay at home, and do not vote at all, simply 
hoping and waiting for better times. When the Democratic party in Massachu- 
setts suddenly abandoned, in 1845, the opposition to the annexation of Texas, in 
which, up to that time, it had gone hand in hand with its rival, the effect was 
immediateh^ seen at the autumn election, in the loss of seventeen thousand of 
its votes — very nearly one-third ol' the whole number. It fell ofi' still further 
the following year; and although it recovered a few thousands at the last elec- 
tion of governor, this gain has been thought to be ow'ing, to some extent, to the 
accession of Whigs favorable to the war. There can scarcely be fewer than 
160,000 voters in Massachusetts. The last year but one, the aggregate of voles 
scarcely exceeded 101,000, aiul the last year 105,000. In short, about one-third 
of the voters did not use their right. Of course, a variety of causes are to be 
supposed for this. A large number of voters always will be missing. But for 
so remarkable a result it is natural to presume that there was some prevailing 
reason, aiul I suppose there is no doubt that that to which I have adverted had a 
very material operation. 

Once more ; There is a large and all-important class of enemies of slavery 
beyond the borders of the free States. In the Lexington district of Kentucky, 
it is well known that there lives one of its foes, who bears " a name to con- 
jure with;" and from the city of Louisville a newspaper is sent al)road, within 
and to the South and Rast of that State, devoted to the doctrines of freedom, 
conducted with singular talent and right feeling, and exerting a sen.^ible and 
extensive influence. A governor of Virginia, not long ago, proposed to his le- 
gisture the enactment of a law giving to the respective counties the power to 
expel free colored people beyond their limits. The non-slaveholding farmers, 
west of the Bhw. llidge, thanked him " for teaching them that word. " They did 
not approve the particidar a])plication recommended of this new principle in 
legislation; but already there is much speculation about a State law, authoriz- 



16 

in- the counties severally to abolish slavery within their own borders. Dela- 
ware seems on the verge of emancipation, and pantin- for the untried pros- 
perity it Will bring. There arc indications that Maryland will not be very far 
behind, ihe institution which her representative does not think ought to be 
spolcen of here, ,s discussed very freely in her dwellings and bv her road- 
sides. An uneasiness under the burden that so oppresses frocmen'is working 
in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. In (^..orgia, if report 
says true, the causes of the depression of the white laboring man are encraine 
a constantly increasing attention, and there are whispers even, that the^hine 
IS whispered even among the sandhilJers of South Carolina. But whether 
more or less developed in one place or another, I take it to be unquestionable, 
that a desire lor emancipation prevails, to an extent already not inconsidera- 
ble, among the non-slaveholding freemen of the Southern countrv. And it 
has a healthy root, and must grow. They are coming to see that lor the wel- 
areol the whole, and especially for their own, it is necessary that the nuisance 

h!l^rfl ;•/•;'"') '^.F";"" '^^'^ "P'^'^ ^^'^' great i«,Iitical truth. Th. 
^^\eim political aspect of the slave question stands out in the light. Discussion 
of it must take place, and must infallibly end in confirming, enli'ditenino-, 
and guiding to a practical issue, the sense of its reality, and of the oblio-ation 
to seek a remedy. 

So that, as I view the case, this is by no means a geographical and sectional 
question, as the gentleman from North Carolina understands it, (page 11,) 
and as it is made to appear in the resolutions of iMr. Calhoun, one great })oint 
ot whose sagacity is, to present different issues from the true ones. The 
question IS not at all between North and South, but between the many millions 
ot non-slaveholding Americans, North, South, East, and West, and the very 
lew hundreds ol thousands of their fellow citizens who hold slaves. It is time 
that this idea of a geographical distinction of parties, with relation to this sub- 
ject, was abandoned. It has no substantial foundation. Freedom, with its 
lair train ol boundless blessings for white and black— slavery, with its untold 
miseries lor both— these are the two parties in tlu; field; and, as to their rela- 
tive power, the slaveholders, if collected, would be outnumbered by the popu- 
lation of the single city of New York, while the name of the other host is Legion. 
1 cannot, therelore, attach any importance to the hint which the gentleman threw 
out, towards the close of his remarks, of what ''the South" might think it ne- 
cessary to do, if the anti-slavery movement were too much pressed, (pap-e 16. ^ 
On this point he spoke forbearingly, and in a strain which contrasts most 
agreeably with language to which these walls have listened in some other 
tunes. I have something to say upon the subject, but I do not ferl called 
upon to bring it forward till some further occasion shall arise. I will now only 
express my deliberate and undoubting conviction, that the time has quite gone 
by when the friends of slavery might hope any thing from an attempt to move 
the South to disunion for its defence. When thev raise that (niestion seriously, 
their non-slaveholding neighbors— with their majority of more than six votes 
to one, even in that region— will settle it for tliein very (juietly and eifectuallv, 
through the ballot-boxes. And it is altogether likely they will then go further 
yet, and say, ^^An evil which has all along annoved, disgraced, and kept us 
down, and which now asks for its support the overthrow of our wise form of 
governmrnt, is no more to be tolerated. Our interests, our peace, our safety, 
demand its extirpation." J do not believe it is good policy for the slaveholders 
to let their neighbors hear them talk of disunion. Unless' I read very stui)idly 
the signs of the times, it will not be the Union they will thus endanger, but 
the interest to which they would sacrifice it. If they insist that the Uni-.n and 
Slavery cannot live together, they may be taken at 'their word, but n is the 
Union that must stand. 



